Juddering on Focus (MK1 petrol 1.8)

[VR99]

I may of cursed my trusty focus by singing its praises too much recently. It's a 2005 MK1 1.8 petrol manual.
There appears to be light 'juddering' or hesitancy when coasting along in 3rd/4th gear at low speeds but it's not constant and fairly light. I'm hoping this won't be the death knell or a big bill coming but if I can get ahead of it would be great.
If its of relevance:
- mileage is 75k
- new spark plugs,coil packs and HT leads were fitted in August 2018.
- During latter 2018, I was a numpty and put too much oil in...it burned it off (thought car was on fire on the M25) but I hope no long lasting damage from that either

Any ideas/ suggestions on what is causing the juddering?

Edited by VR99 on Tuesday 24th December 16:25

[GreenV8S]

Is it drive line shunt, or variations in the engine output?

[VR99]

GreenV8S said:

Is it drive line shunt, or variations in the engine output?

Not a shunt as such, I'd say power delivery/engine output related..the pick up is not smooth and jerky is the best way I can describe it but it's only intermittently coming up so hard to pinpoint. I feel like it's been there a while though wasn't sure before if I was imagining it.. but it's more frequent now.

[GreenV8S]

Seems more like a hesitation/misfire than drive line shunt, then.

Given that the plugs are 18 months old and have been exposed to a lot of oil it would be sensible to replace those as a first step.

[finlo]

VR99 said:

Not a shunt as such, I'd say power delivery/engine output related..the pick up is not smooth and jerky is the best way I can describe it but it's only intermittently coming up so hard to pinpoint. I feel like it's been there a while though wasn't sure before if I was imagining it.. but it's more frequent now.

I've got similar going on with an ST220 although yesterday the eml came on and I've extracted a code pointing to cylinder 3 so i'm hoping plug and or lead.

Edited by finlo on Tuesday 24th December 20:05

[VR99]

Thanks guys will get my mechanic to check it out. I drove it just now over 20 odd miles and was fine, gave it some beans too..all within local and national speed limits of course
Didn't hear the same issue and seemed fine so hopefully will be ok till it gets sorted.

[Squishey]

finlo said:

I've got similar going on with an ST220 although yesterday the eml came on and I've extracted a code pointing to cylinder 3 so i'm hoping plug and or lead.

Edited by finlo on Tuesday 24th December 20:05

I had similar with my ST. I ended up being the coil pack which was £200+ from the main dealer IIRC.

[Liamsaid]

Could be a few things, but mk1 focus is known for the speed sensor to become a problem.
Symptoms also include the factory fit radio getting louder and quieter by itself,
Power steering getting heavy and lighter randomly, the speedo needle dropping to zero randomly. When it gets bad the car can stall.

All of these things use the speed signal.
I had this on my parents mk1 1.8 focus recently. Got a genuine ford sensor from an eBay seller for around £30 and it took about an hour to fit because there's and arkward clip that snaps when you try to remove it.

[VR99]

Liamsaid said:

Could be a few things, but mk1 focus is known for the speed sensor to become a problem.
Symptoms also include the factory fit radio getting louder and quieter by itself,
Power steering getting heavy and lighter randomly, the speedo needle dropping to zero randomly. When it gets bad the car can stall.

All of these things use the speed signal.
I had this on my parents mk1 1.8 focus recently. Got a genuine ford sensor from an eBay seller for around £30 and it took about an hour to fit because there's and arkward clip that snaps when you try to remove it.

I changed the OEM h/u many years back but unfortunately that no longer works so unable to verify the speed signal issue that way.
Additionally and this has been there a while but my steering appears to 'click' when I turn the wheel left or right (can feel the sensation through the steering wheel lightly)...anyone had this issue before on a MK1 focus and does it mean the steering rack is on its way out?

[Steve H]

Juddering is unlikely to be the speed sensor so unless the speedo is cutting I’d bump that down the list.

Most common for those was plugs and leads. They suffered from arcing between the porcelain and the lead causing a track on both items. Typically one or other would get replaced followed by a temporary improvement, followed by it getting worse again. They both needed to be changed at the same time.

It was usually visible on both the plug and the lead if you looked carefully.